Kouji Ibuki
Kouji Ibuki (伊吹コウジ Ibuki Kōji) is a character originally from the Cardfight!! Vanguard Manga. He first appeared in Volume 0 as a classmate of Miwa and Kai, back when they were in elementary school. In the anime, he first appears as the main antagonist of Cardfight!! Vanguard Movie: Neon Messiah. When he was younger, he enjoyed Vanguard. However, the Deletors corrupted those memories and he set out to destroy Vanguard and consequentially both Earth and Cray. Harmonics Messiah returns Ibuki to normal at the end of the movie and he later becomes a supporting character in Cardfight!! Vanguard G. In that series, he was an employee of FIVA's United Sanctuary Branch and the coach of Team Demise prior to revealing his true goals. His vanguard circle is colored white. Appearance When he was younger, he had short length hair with his bangs covering his left eye. He wore a plain shirt with pants and was shorter than Miwa and Kai. After a few years passed, he grew taller and now goes to Fukuhara High School, the same school as Ren and Asaka. He grew his hair out and now wears a constant frown. He wears a white coat which has a bit of red and grey on It with a grey collar like thing ( which was damaged during a cardfight with Chrono Shindou). He has red eyes. Personality When he was younger, he was quiet and soft-spoken. Generally kind and gentle, he appeared weak to others. He does, however, know how to play Cardfight!! Vanguard. He gains more confidence when playing. He tried to make friends through Vanguard, but as he thought that they would like the game more if they won, he would hold back against them, which caused people to become angry with him and refuse to play with him, which resulted in his more loner personality later on. Now that he is older, he has become colder and more reserved. It seems he is more antagonistic towards others and is rather blunt with his words, not holding back. By Vanguard G, he has gained a more casual and friendlier personality, especially when around Mamoru Anjou, though he still retains a slight bit of coldness when around Chrono Shindo. It is revealed that some cardfighters like Kamui from the previous season, hold a grudge against him for the role he played in the events of Messiah Scramble, though he tries hard to mask his feelings about this bothering him. Abilities In the movie, after being manipulated and controlled by Oksizz, he had an ability to delete vanguard units, but he lost this ability after being defeated by Kai and Aichi. In the movie, he was shown to be a highly athletic fighter. In the manga, he has PSY Qualia. He is also a very skilled fighter as he managed to knock down several US employers unconscious, and even managed to strike Shouma down. History Pre Vanguard-G Some time after the movie, Ibuki traveled the world possibly looking for redemption. At some point he met Rive Shindou. Rive explained Ibuki his past with Ryuzu Myoujin as well as his attempts to stop Ryuzu's plans. He entrusted Ibuki with the mission of ensuring Chrono would become strong enough to stop Ryuzu. For that, Rive gave Ibuki the Gear Chronicle clan as well as three Depend Cards. Later he became the Coach of Team Demise and Kanzaki's underling as means to lure out Ryuzu. Ibuki sent Chrono the Gear Chronicle cards as well as a map to Card Capital 2, starting Chrono's life as a Vanguard Fighter. Vanguard G In Vanguard G, Ibuki first appeared in G Episode 3. As Chrono was performing one of his quests to fight a fighter that wanted to test his new Kagerō deck, he went to the rendezvous point, only to meet Ibuki. Ibuki claimed that the person whom Chrono was suppose to cardfight had something on, and he came as a substitute with that person's deck. Chrono agreed and instead of queueing up to get into the Vanguard Coliseum, Ibuki brought him in with a special pass. As they got in, the duo prepares to cardfight using the Grand Image Advanced System (GIAS). Ibuki then explains to Chrono on how to use the system and after choosing a map, the game begins. At the beginning of the game, Chrono seems to gain the upperhand as he corners Ibuki at five damage. Ibuki on the other hand, had maintained his hand advantage, and rides Perdition Dragon, Break Down Dragon. He then goes on to comment that Chrono's got a cheap tactic considering that he's still a newbie and can lead to his downfall. Ibuki ends his turn without performing his third attack, which makes Chrono state that Ibuki is toying with him. The following turn, Chrono fails to penetrate Ibuki's defenses, despite riding his ace, Chronojet Dragon. Ibuki then performs a Legion using Break Down and proceeds to attack Chrono. Upon landing Chrono's fifth damage, he uses Tinder Spear Dracokid to destroy all of Chrono's remaining Rearguards. Ibuki then taunts Chrono, stating that he is inexperienced and childish as he hates being lonely but chooses to be alone. Chrono then proceeds to Stride his Mystery Flare Dragon, but unfortunately, the strain is too much for the G.I.A. System leading to a system breakdown that aborted the game forcefully with neither Ibuki nor Chrono winning. After the match, Ibuki left, not telling Chrono his name despite the latter's requests. He only told Chrono that he would have to become stronger first. Ibuki next appeared to watch Chrono fight Jaime Alcaraz. He then left after the fight but had a chat with Mamoru who claimed Chrono did well to beat Jaime but Ibuki said it was pure luck, and left after giving Mamoru a wave. It has been stated by Mamoru that he works at the United Sanctuary HQ. He later reappears when Chrono gets in trouble for trying to use violence to show the judges at a mini-tournament that Team Trick was cheating. Though some within the board wanted to ban him from tournaments, Ibuki decides to just strip him of the points he had gathered. He later appears at Card Capital 2 after he learned that Chrono quit Vanguard to redeem Gear Chronicle as his own. There he reveals he had come across Gear Chronicle before during a journey. When Chrono refuses to let him have the deck despite the fact he quit Vanguard, Ibuki decides to fight him for the Gear Chronicle deck. During the fight, Kouji reveals his true clan is Link Joker and easily outplays Chrono while teaching him that no one's life is perfect, and that life rarely goes the way someone wants it to. Despite his victory, Chrono remains adamant over not handing Gear Chronicle over to Ibuki, so Ibuki decides to let him keep it for now. Later he is called by Mamoru who invites him to dinner. While at dinner they decide to cardfight. However, while they are doing so, Mamoru brings up the fact that the way Ibuki's "win-at-all-costs" attitude at the United Sanctuary HQ is what may have led to cheating at the mini-tournament. However, Ibuki counters that the problem may be with the Dragon Empire HQ who is more about "merrymaking". After they are done, Ibuki believes that Mamoru is trustworthy but decides for now to keep something to himself. During Team TRY3's fight against Team Demise, Ibuki is revealed to be the latter's coach, much to Kamui's shock. Kamui confronts him due to the grudge and distrust he has towards him for the role he played during the Messiah Scramble, which almost destroyed Earth and Cray. and they start to cardfight, Ibuki reveals Neon Messiah much to Kamui's shock, but Ibuki answers none of his opponent's questions. As the fight goes on, Kamui was shocked to learn that Link Joker can also unlock any locked unit. Kamui, sensing no evil from their fight, concludes that Ibuki isn't doing anything wrong. However, Kamui still expresses his distrust towards him and warns him that he will take action if his plans put any of his friends in danger. After Team TRY3's loss to Team Demise, Ibuki ran into Chrono. He reminded Chrono that a fight reveals everything about a person and stated that the result of the fight was Team TRY3's "current everything". Ibuki ran into Chrono at the United Sanctuary and brought Chrono to his office. Shortly after, Shion and Tokoha were escorted to Ibuki's office as well. They argued about whether what was going on at the United Sanctuary was right, with Ibuki claiming that it was because the fighters tend to be stronger there. Then, Kanzaki called and challenged Chrono, Shion, and Tokoha to a fight. During the special match between TRY3 and Demise Ibuki sneaked into the United Sanctuary labs to steal the Depend card. He contacted Kamui and requested him to give it to Chrono. After escaping United Sanctuary he ran into Shouma, who questioned him about why he betrayed United Sanctuary and why he is so interested in Chrono. Ibuki remembered his encounter with Rive Shindou, and left stating that Shouma is not worth dealing with. Spite that Chrono have won his fight against a legend, Ibuki then tests Chrono is he's worth it to take up the new challenge which to take down the biggest menace that threatens vanguard and earth itself. Ibuki and Chrono fought to decide Chrono's fate and also to know if Chrono has the power to awaken depend cards and the likes. After some events, Ibuki then reveals his trump card judging the destiny that Chrono has. Hence that he had an absolute win at that point, Chrono however was favored by his luck and managed to survive until his next turn. Ibuki was then finished off with Chrono not striding at that time in which his defeat was met. He then revealed the true enemy that they should be worried about, Ryuzu Myoujin in which case was his motive to join the Vanguard Association which is to get close to the association in order to bring down his, Rive's and Vanguard's nemesis .It was also revealed that Ibuki was the mysterious person who was giving Chrono the Gear Chronicle cards,. G Season 2 After Ibuki revealed the true enemy to Chrono, he wasted no time in gathering all of his comrades which were mostly characters from the orignal series. Most of his company were ones that had partaken the G-quest in order to track down Ryuzu. While on the other G-quest, He had taken part on the Star Gate branch as the boss of the branch's G-quest. He then fought again he's sole foe, Chrono Shindou. In later match, Chrono has taunted on him c after insulting his strategy which led Chrono to call him a "lousy stalker" and an old man which enraged Ibuki to fight at his best. He then was defeated once again by Chrono. At the end of the Dark Zone quest, Ibuki waited for Team Try3 to congratulate them and also take more informations about the status of Chrono's depend cards which gave them an invitaion for the special vanguard event and also awarding of the Generation Masters. In favor of the festival, Ibuki's company accumulated overwhelming stride force which was collectively taken from Try3 and Q4's match and also from all Cardfighters in the world. They've all transformed into their avatars, including Ibuki as Alter Ego Messiah to breakdown the stride force limiter and to overflow it in order to track Ryuzu and also to cancel out his final depend card's awakening. They've managed to track him down and did not waste any time and led his company to reach Ryuzu's lair G Season 3 Hence that Ibuki successfully tracked down Ryuzu, it was hold on a stop by company after reaching the depend cards disrupting their main motive which they have been separated into different rooms. Chrono and Ibuki however was led directly at Ryuzu to discuss some things. They were called disrespectful and ill-tempered which shocked them. They have dwelled on the shocking image that they've witnessed in Ryuzu's lab which is none other than Ryuzu's death. After such event, Ibuki's company discussed about their next move on what to do with Ryuzu even though it was revealed in the media that he's no longer alive. After the revelation of the reincarnated Ryuzu Myoujin to Chrono, he was confonted by Chrono for lying that he's father was deceased leaving Chrono to plant wrath on him for not telling the truth. He then attended a special Vanguard Association meeting discussing about the menace Ryuzu has brought. Later that day, they've confronted one of the association's traitor, Satoru Enishi with Rummy Labyrinth as his back ups. Judgement was brought unto Enishi by Mamoru which led Ibuki to fight Ace but did not took longer because Luna had to force One of the entrusted depend card to inflict devastation on Dragon Empire branch which Ibuki was the first to take damage from a fully materialized depend card that has been summoned. All in the branch were hospitalized. Ibuki visited Mamoru to see if he was ok then was confronted by Kamui at the roof top of the hospital saying how despicable he is now considering that he was the one who lead them to fight against Ryuzu. He later apologized to Team TRY3 after Chrono has been abducted by Ryuzu. Manga He first appeared in a flashback of when Miwa and Kai were younger. Kai was sleeping on the park bench when Miwa approached him with another person. Kai asked who he was. Miwa was dumbfounded that Kai couldn't even remember the name of their own classmate. He told Kai that Ibuki here was going to teach them how to play Cardfight!! Vanguard. Ibuki slowly taught them how to play the game while telling them how to use the units and triggers. Being the hothead he was, Kai ended up losing a lot to Ibuki. Frustrated that he kept losing, Kai rushed home to develop his own deck, but not before borrowing some cards from Ibuki and Miwa. When he challenged Ibuki the next day, Ibuki was surprised to see Kai using a Royal Paladin deck. Kai said that it was a new clan of knights that uses magic science (hinting that it was a new clan during Kai's younger days). Ibuki was even more surprised to see Kai using Blaster Blade, a unit that is known as the strongest knight and would still be able to grow (hinting at Majesty Lord Blaster and Exculpate the Blaster). Kai surprised him by using Blaster Blade Burst which won him the match. At this point, no one knew what happens after this encounter. In the newest chapter of the Cardfight!! Vanguard Manga, he is now grown up and is going to the same school as Ren and Asaka. In a flashback, Naoki Ishida and Aichi Sendou were talking to each other. Naoki mentioned how much Blaster Dark and Blaster Blade resemble each other while Aichi tries to explain to him why. Ibuki, who was behind them, spoke out a question to Aichi about Blaster Blade. Aichi and Naoki turned to see Ibuki behind them, but they don't know who he was. He once again asked Aichi on whether he has Blaster Blade or not. When Aichi mentioned that he did have the card and who gave it to him, Ibuki said that Aichi was rather weird. Naoki, who was fed up with Ibuki's personality, decided to battle him in a real fight. Ibuki instead just stopped him and pushed him off while Aichi told Naoki not to do that towards other people. Misaki and Shingo step up to him and told him to back off. He walked away from the group with a sour note. Later he was shown to face Tetsu in the same park where Ibuki taught Kai and Miwa to Cardfight the years before. Ibuki said that Tetsu was fighting for Ren which was quite bad on his note. He rides a card called "Docking Deletor, Greion", who is his avatar, and which caused King of Masks, Dantarian to separate from Tetsu, turning the card face down. It caught Tetsu off guard on what is happening. What is even more shocking to him was when his card appears face down on the Vanguard Circle. Meanwhile, Takuto was watching from behind a tree the whole time. It is revealed that he does have a form of PSY Qualia, but an unknown one. Movie Ibuki is first seen in Aichi's recurring dream. In his dream, Ibuki inquires about Aichi's identity. Aichi answers, then Ibuki makes note of the fact that Aichi is the vanguard of Blaster Blade. Before Aichi wakes up, Ibuki tells Aichi to disappear and attacks him. Ibuki is next seen defeating Ren Suzugamori, deleting the Shadow Paladins, and taking Ren's invitation to the Messiah Scramble as his prize. Later, he is seen doing the same to Kyou and the Spike Brothers. At the start of the Messiah Scramble, he was shown to have done the same to 5 other participants. Upon arriving at the event and revealing that Ibuki had taken the invitations of 7 participants of the Messiah Scramble, the crowd was outraged. However, Takuto realized Planet Brandt was approaching and allowed Ibuki to participate. In the first round, Ibuki defeated Aichi and deleted Blaster Blade. That night, Ibuki defeated Leon and Misaki and deleted Aqua Force and Genesis, deleting both of them from the tournament. For the semi-final, Ibuki defeated Kamui and deleted the Nova Grapplers. Before the final round could begin, Brandt grew dangerously close to Earth and interrupted the tournament. Now clearly visible to the entire world, Brandt began causing a state of panic. As Kai confronted Ibuki, Aichi arrived with the freshly revived Blaster Blade and together Aichi and Kai fought Ibuki 2 on 1. Despite Ibuki using his delete skill, Aichi won them the game with Harmonics Messiah. After the fight, Ibuki was released from the Deletors' influence and destroyed Daunting Deletor, Oksizz. As Aichi, Kai, Misaki, Kamui, and Ibuki left the island. Aichi gave Harmonics Messiah to Ibuki. Upon entering Ibuki's possession, Harmonics Messiah transformed into Neon Messiah. Deck Movie: Neon Messiah Ibuki appears in Cardfight!! Vanguard Movie: Neon Messiah using a Link Joker deck focused on the Deletors sub-clan. Unlike the traditional Star-vader deck, the Deletors have the ability to Delete the opponent's Vanguard, taking away all of its power and skills. However, it doesn't focus quite as much on locking the opponent's rear-guards. NOTE: This summary and the decklist below are based exclusively on the photo to the right. Some cards may not be shown on-screen. G Season 1 On a quest, he uses a borrowed Kagero deck, focusing on retiring the opponents rearguards in the front and back rows. His true deck is a Link Joker deck focusing on the Messiah series, which makes him lock his rearguards and is able to draw out powerful abilities. Kouji's deck is now focused on his new unit Genesis Dragon, Excelics Messiah, which can unlock any number of units when it attacks as well give power to his rear guards, retire those of his opponent, and gain an extra critical. G Season 2 For his fight against Chrono in the Star Gate Branch G Quest, he uses a new deck, focused on locking and unlocking more quickly and retiring more of the opponent's rear guards. This deck also includes new Messiah units, which can lock themselves and gain skills. G Season 3 Kouji's deck improves in Stride Gate, focusing on the skills of Genesis Dragon, Flageolet Messiah, as well as the ability to perform Omega Lock. Manga In the manga, Ibuki also uses a Link Joker deck focused on the Deletors sub-clan. Besides focusing on the delete mechanic, his Deletors also focus on the Vanish Delete mechanic. Gallery Ibuki_Kouji.jpg|Ibuki in Manga Manga scan 1 (Manga).JPG|Ibuki Kouji's PSY Qualia is activated Ibuki kouji and his deleter deck.JPG|Ibuki Kouji with his Deleter Deck Ibuki's purpose.png|Ibuki explaining the purpose of his actions Ibuki in Neon Messiah.png|Ibuki's appearance in Neon Messiah Ibuki in Vanguard G.png|Ibuki's appearance in Cardfight!! Vanguard G Kouji Ibuki & Alter Ego.png|Ibuki with Alter Ego Messiah Kouji Ibuki & Alter Ego (GC).png|Ibuki with Alter Ego Messiah (GIRS Crisis) Ibuki Kouji (Movie-NM-NC).png|Ibuki in Cardfight!! Vanguard Movie: Neon Messiah Young Ibuki Kouji (Movie-NM-NC).png|Young Ibuki in Cardfight!! Vanguard Movie: Neon Messiah Sleeve186.png|Volume 186 IbukiPunch.jpg|Ibuki striking Shouma down Ibuki Laugh.png|Ibuki Laughing 4OqpOnb - Imgur.jpg|Got Caught BushiPoster 08-2016.jpg|Ibuki with Chrono, Shion and Shouma Quotes & Chants *(To Chrono): A fight reveals everything about a person. The result before you is your team's "everything". *(JP): Ride! For the sake of the future I believe in, fly my wings! Alter Ego Messiah! *(JP): Wings that will save two worlds! Lead me to the future! World Wing! (Attacking with Alter Ego Messiah) *(JP): Generation Zone...release! Cut through the chaos with your white wings and open up the future! Stride Generation! *(JP): In exchange for pain, sleep in silence! (Using Alter Ego Messiah's Stride bonus) *(EN): Ride! Take flight, my wings, bring me what I desire most! Alter Ego Messiah! *(EN): A power to arrive from the planets themselves! Open up a new path! World Wing! (Attacking with Alter Ego Messiah) *(EN): Liberating the Generation Zone! Cleave through the chaos, and break through uncertainty with your wings! Generation Stride! *(EN): Nothing surpasses the pain of loss, trapped in silence! (Using Alter Ego Messiah's Stride bonus) *(EN): With a sense of pride born from being forgiven, rebuild this world as you see fit! White Lightning Undulation! (Using Genesis Dragon, Amnesty Messiah's skill) *(EN): Liberating the Generation Zone! Cleave through chaos and draw the future with your white wings! Generation Stride! *(EN): Come out from the chaos, light of Genesis, and cleanse all crimes! The Apocalypse! (Attacking with Excelics Messiah) Battles Trivia *Kouji Ibuki shares an english voice actor with Rouga Aragami from Future Card Buddyfight. Also, both characters have white hair. *In the production of the movie, the director specifically requested that Ibuki have a traumatic childhood: even something disproportionate to his actions like a mean teacher. *Kouji Ibuki uses Wushu as his physical fighting style. *Kouji Ibuki becomes the final opponent in both the movie Neon Messiah and Cardfight!! Vanguard G for the main protagonist, but he is not the main antagonist in Cardfight!! Vanguard G. *Akira Itou revealed in a manga extra that Kouji Ibuki likes proud and stuck-up girls. *Akira Itou revealed in a manga extra that Kouji Ibuki likes portable food like caloriemate. Category:Males Category:Characters Category:Link Joker Deck Users Category:Season 5 Characters Category:Kagerō Deck Users Category:Antagonists Category:Former Antagonists Category:Protagonists Category:Season 6 Characters Category:Season 7 Characters